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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29206818">meow!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy'>smallredboy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>House M.D.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Animal Traits, Catboy Robert Chase, First Kiss, Laser pointers, M/M, don't take this seriously</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:47:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29206818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallredboy/pseuds/smallredboy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Chase is a catboy. Unfortunately, House likes this.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Robert Chase/Greg House</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>meow!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>did anyone ask for catboy chase. because i did.</p><p>enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chase isn't grateful for many things, but he's grateful that his father called House to get him this job.</p><p>It's hard to get a job as a catperson, much more so as a doctor. The stares and the weirdness and the people who are a bit too into the fact he's part cat are a day to day nuisance. He knows there will be people like that in America, and that there will be people like that in Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, but it doesn't hurt to try his luck there.</p><p>There's a few other hybrids working at the hospital. There's a dogboy nurse, a guy with a wide grin when he sees him, a moment of recognition and camaraderie. There's a cowgirl in the surgeon team, her floppy ears making putting on the surgery cap a little difficult. His ears, pointed upwards, make it even more difficult, but Cuddy had been nice enough as to help him start up a little thing of cutting up caps so they'd fit hybrids right.</p><p>Most people at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital don't bat an eye to his existence. It seems like hybrids are more common in the States than they are in Australia, for one reason or another, which means that people have gotten used to them existing. It's much different than when he was thirteen, being dragged along into church by his dad, the priest praying for him on instinct. </p><p>The one person that actually <em>cares</em> about the fact he's a catboy is, of course, his boss, Dr. Gregory House.</p><p>It's easy to get annoyed, really, with everything House says about him. From the jabs at his loyalty to the comments on how he's more dog-like than cat-like. With time he gets used to it, and as the teams keep changing he ends up with two coworkers that'll actually last this time around, Foreman and Cameron. Cameron loves cats, owning one, but doesn't seem to be entranced by him. Which is good with him, by all means. Foreman doesn't even bat an eye the first time he sets sights on his tail, it poking out of his pants as much as he tried to keep it concealed as to not bother other people.</p><p>But House is a completely different story. He only made jabs for a while, easy jokes he's heard a hundred times before, but then, well. When Cameron and Foreman joined the team, he started to escalate as he grew used to his usual mocking comments on his ears and his dislike of bodies of water.</p><p>He's at the hospital's lunch room when it happens. He's eating one of the processed foods they sell there, easy to eat and then go back to work, when he starts looking around. And then there it is.</p><p>A laser pointer.</p><p>He draws in a breath as his instincts kick in. He clings onto the table, trying his hardest not to react, to not make a fool of himself in front of everyone. In front of all his colleagues. He looks up, to the source of the laser pointer, and of course, of <em>course</em> it's House. He has it in his hand, pointing toward the floor, and he's all but smug as Wilson watches him disapprovingly, saying something Chase can't hear among the cacophony of the lunchroom.</p><p>He breaks after only about half a minute. He scrambles toward the laser pointer's red dot, in all fours, shoving aside a few people walking with their lunches. He almost apologizes, but the apologies die on his mouth as he follows the red dot as it moves around the cafeteria. He throws himself at the dot and pants out heavily, not used to running on all fours, and he sees that he ended up right next to House.</p><p>"You're a prick," he says as he looks up at him.</p><p>House grins and turns the laser point off. "And you're a cat. I had to take advantage of that fact at one point, I'm sure you understand."</p><p>"Ugh," Chase groans as he stands up, cleaning his pants and sleeves off any dust he carried off from the floor. He looks around and there's quite a sizable amount of people staring at the scene before them, and he blushes deep red at that. Cameron is pretending not to be looking at him, staring at her food, while Foreman tries his best to seem unfazed. Chase sighs and goes up to get his lunch and get out of there. He can probably try and get HR involved, something or other about discrimination against hybrids, but the laws in regards to that are still kind of shitty.</p><p>"You need to stop doing that," Wilson says while he's still in earshot, and he goes still, trying to hear him talk.</p><p>"What? Not my fault he looks cute flustered."</p><p>"There's a thousand ways of showing your interest in him that <em>don't</em> involve publicly humiliating him."</p><p>House huffs, indignant. "Like what, huh?"</p><p>Chase leaves the cafeteria before he can hear any more. Of course House is the type to be <em>into</em> people like him, and of course this is the only way he knows how to express the interest. It's not like he'd <em>mind</em>, if House was normal about it—House is handsome, awfully so, and it's one of the reasons why he sticks by him and laughs at his jokes, flutters his lashes at him. He's always known it was a stupid thing to do, but now it's even more stupid as he realizes how he's just been making House more and more interested in him as a concept rather than anything else.</p><hr/><p>He decides to put an end to it a few weeks later, after House does the laser pointer shtick <em>again</em>. He should give him some catnip or something instead, but he guesses that'd count as drugging an employee, and he must not want to take any chances with getting taken to HR for the umpteenth time. He knows the records about him must be <em>delightful</em>.</p><p>So he decides that the best he can do is try and get an end to it by giving House what they both want. Which is logical. It isn't really, but he likes to pretend he'll live out his fantasy of being involved with his hot older boss and that he'll have him on his lap like he's a mafia boss and he's his overgrown cat. You know, like in the movies.</p><p>"House," he says as he enters his office, looking at him intently, watching him carefully. "I wanted to talk to you about something."</p><p>House looks at him, tilts his head. "What is it?" </p><p>He swallows. In retrospective this is a horrible idea—he's just causing himself more problems in the long run. But maybe it'd be good to be able to finally hook up with House, make out with him like the world's going to end if he doesn't. He just has to run with it, to say what he wants to say, and maybe something positive will come out of it.</p><p>"Well, I heard Wilson talk to you the first time you did the laser pointer trick," he says. House pales. "Yeah, I know you like me. Anyway." He sucks in a breath. "As I'm sure you're aware of, I'm also interested in you. So I wanted to ask if we could, you know." All his bravado slips out of him in one swift motion, and he stares at House, almost waiting for him to finish it off for him.</p><p>"If we could <em>what</em>?" House says, smiling at him teasingly. He's back to his confident self, now, shedding the anxiety of being seen, or so that's what it looks like as he looks at Chase with all the confidence and smugness in the world. "Spit it out, catboy."</p><p>"Don't—" Chase lets out a defeated sigh, his face burning. "If we could kiss. Fuck. Sleep together. Whatever you want." His tail curls up, something he hasn't learned to repress even after all these years—his catlike behaviors slip out of his hands as much as he tries to hide them. Not like it's very possible to hide his ears or his tail, but he digresses.</p><p>"Of course," House says, standing up and grabbing his cane. He steps closer to Chase and rubs the back of his neck. presses his hand against it gently, like giving him a massage. Chase yelps out in surprise and then lets out a quiet little moan. "You like that, huh?"</p><p>"Well, cats love that," he says, pulling himself closer to him, squirming a little as he keeps massaging the back of his neck. "So it's only logical that—that I do too."</p><p>"Of course," House says. "You're really cute, Chase. Cuddy will kill me if she finds out I'm having sex at work, much more so with my employee, so—"</p><p>"You're not above getting sent to HR, House," he drawls. "But if you want to have us fuck at your place for the first time that's alright. You can just <em>say that</em>."</p><p>"Shut up before I stop rubbing your neck," House threatens.</p><p>He immediately lets out a whine. "Fine. I'll shut up."</p><p>"Of course you will," he says, smugly, before grabbing his chin with his free hand ever so gently. He tilts his head up and Chase forgets how to breathe for a second, with the way House looks down at him, with a certain adoration in his striking blue eyes. He leans down and presses their lips together and he melts.</p><p>Maybe enduring the jokes and the whole laser pointer thing was okay, if it means getting his lips on his own. He purrs happily and clings onto him, kissing him like the world's going to end.</p>
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